Born Alliances
by Cheyla
Summary: Naruto thought that once he left the Village Hidden by the Animals behind, he would never go back. He thought that all of the Village's and his secrets were firmly buried. Turns out that it's not that simple. Sequel to Born on a Border
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the sequel of Born on a Border and Happy New Year! Enjoy!**

The Hokage Monument was one of the first things Naruto spotted as he and Jiraiya broke through the tree line and approached Konoha. With a small smile, he took note of Grandma Tsunade's face on the mountain, marking her position as the fifth Hokage. So they had finally gotten around to adding it, had they? Now her likeness would be remembered for years to come, long after her death, unlike…

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the thought. He wouldn't think on that anymore. He was back in Konoha, where his allegiances lied and where he belonged. Konoha was his home.

As the gates came into sight, Jiraiya and Naruto traded meaningful looks. After a minute, Naruto inclined his head in understanding.

Silently he apologized to the fox inside of him. The inhabitants of Konoha wouldn't understand, so he would have to suppress the Kyuubi more than he had been doing on the journey back. The fox—Kurama, Naruto forced himself to remember—grumbled but didn't protest or try to break free. Over the journey home, he and Naruto had seemed to reach an understanding.

As Kurama returned to the cage he called home, Naruto's vision lost its tint of red and the shinobi could feel his senses dull. He grimaced at the feeling, an action caught by Jiraiya.

"It's necessary," he informed the blonde.

"I know," Naruto responded. By now the gates loomed above them. "Time to make an entrance, I guess."

As they strolled through the gates, Naruto could see the heads turning and people doing double takes upon seeing them. If he hadn't suppressed the Kyuubi's strengthened senses, he would have been able to hear the whispers as well. As they made their way to the center of the village, Naruto glanced down, wondering how the population of Konoha viewed him now.

He knew he had changed since he had left a few years ago. His new uniform was proof of that.

Naruto glanced around the village and spotted some shops and streets that looked unfamiliar. Clearly he wasn't the only one that had changed.

Face blank, he started to climb the nearest pole, curious to see just how much the village had changed in his absence. Jiraiya sighed and shook his head with a small smile. He knew what the boy must have been feeling. It was a strange feeling, coming home after a long absence. There were always some changes, but for the most part everything was the same. With the familiarity, most people expected it to be easy to fall into old routines and habits, not realizing that it would be difficult because they themselves had changed. Jiraiya hoped that Tsunade would be able to get Naruto back on missions quickly enough. The boy would need something to keep himself occupied and not focused on how much he and others had changed.

Naruto gazed at the village below him. Everything seemed so bright and busy. It was a far cry from—

He cut those thoughts off and busied himself by trying to find his landmarks. He easily spotted his old apartment building and the Hokage tower. He also located Ichiraku's and his stomach rumbled at the sight.

Then his eyes wandered to the outskirts of the village, where the clan compounds lie. They looked so still and peaceful. Naruto narrowed his blue eyes to make out the clan sigils that graced the entrances. Nara, Hyuuga, Uchiha…

The blue-eyed shinobi clenched his hands into fists and stiffened as he thought he saw a bloodied shinobi lying in the street, dead. Within seconds, five others, then eight accompanied the body. The faces were familiar and Naruto could practically hear their dying cries. The blonde clenched his jaw and stilled his breaths, afraid that if he breathed too deeply that he would be able to smell and taste the blood.

"Naruto!"

Blue eyes blinked and the bloodied bodies were gone. He let out the breath he was holding. It had been a memory.

Just a memory.

"Naruto!" The shinobi glanced down toward the base of the pole he was standing on and his lips lifted upward into a smile.

"Sakura!" he called as he made his descent. His old teammate was a welcome sight.

The two stared at each other in silence, large grins on their faces as they sized each other up.

"You've gotten taller," Sakura finally remarked. "You're taller than me now."

Naruto's grin widened as he let out a cheer. Sakura watched him fondly before asking, "What about me? Do I look different?"

Naruto only took a few seconds to examine her before stating, "Don't worry, Sakura! You haven't changed at all."

When his cheek swelled up from the resulting punch, Naruto wondered what he said wrong. Sakura still looked like Sakura with her bright pink hair and green eyes. Plus, she was alive, which was more important to Naruto than any change she could have undergone.

Jiraiya shook his head. Same old clueless Naruto. "I would have thought that someone would have taught you what not to say to girls," he sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean, Pervy Sage?" Naruto demanded. Jiraiya refused to answer and began walking away.

"Stop stalling, Naruto," he called behind him. "We need to go see the Hokage and let her know that we're back." Jiraiya didn't even bother to look back to see if Naruto was following him. He already knew that the younger shinobi was by the sheer loudness that constantly surrounded Naruto.

As the trio of shinobi made their way to the Hokage tower, Jiraiya wondered how the next few weeks were going to go. Would Naruto find it easy to return to his old routine in Konoha? Or would he long for something more? Something he had left behind?

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	2. Chapter 2

**Enjoy!**

Tsunade sighed. Months of hard work had now been destroyed, thanks to the Akatsuki. Since the attack on Suna, requests and demands had been flooding not only Suna but also Konoha to demand that the upcoming Chuunin exams be moved elsewhere.

Unfortunately, there were a few teams that had already started their journey to Suna, if they hadn't already arrived. Gaara and the council of shinobi elders in Suna had agreed to the Chuunin exams being moved, as long as it wasn't too far from Suna and where they would have originally took place. That meant limited options, but one had been chosen and the plans had been sent to Tsunade for review.

There were three reasons why she wasn't exactly thrilled with these changes. The first was the most obvious. Such a blatant change always meant more paperwork that she needed to go through.

The second reason was the village itself. She had never heard of it before. From the surrounding villages, there were rumours that it had been around decades before but it had disappeared. Now it seemed that as of a few months ago, it was back and growing. It just didn't make sense to the fifth Hokage. Shinobi villages disappearing were a common enough occurrence and she didn't really question it but the reemergence was something strange. She didn't like the lack of information there was about this village.

Which led to the third reason she wasn't thrilled. The ones that might have had any information about the village were gone, with the exception of possibly Jiraiya and Naruto, but they had made no mentions of such a village in their reports.

The Hokage sighed again.

She just had to resign herself that there was always the possibility of something going wrong in these Chuunin exams and would have to send some of her better jounin under the guise of being the teachers of the teams.

Speaking of teams…

There was a knock on the door. Right on time, for once.

"Enter!" she called. A group of nine entered. The confusion they felt was apparent on some of the faces of the younger shinobi.

"Due to the recent attack in Suna, the Chuunin exams are no longer taking place there," she began explaining. "They have been moved and I don't feel comfortable sending more than one genin team to an unknown village. As such, I've selected Team Ebisu to be the participants. Ebisu, you have admitted that you feel that your students are ready to try their hand at the exams and if something were to go wrong, I feel like they would be the best equipped to handle the situation. Shikamaru, you'll be going as my representative. Try to gain as much information about this village as you can. They're new and our information is lacking. I want to remedy this."

Shikamaru nodded silently.

"Team Kakashi will be going with you to watch the exams and be back-up if you would need any. They'll be under Shikamaru's orders during the duration of the exams and traveling to the village and back. Suna has sent a guide to lead you to the village and I'm sure their teams are already on their way to the village. You'll leave at dawn and the exams are due to begin in a week's time."

"What village has the location for the Chuunin exams been changed to?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade glanced down at the report in front of her before looking up again.

"It's called the Village Hidden by the Animals," she said. She watched Naruto carefully as she made her announcement, in case he did know of the village and had forgotten to include it in reports.

There was no sign of recognition in his eyes. He simply looked troubled, a look which had formed as soon as she had mentioned the Chuunin exams. No doubt he was upset that he hadn't been chosen to undergo the Chuunin exams this round but there was simply no other team she could put him with. All of the current genin teams were operating with three healthy members.

As the nine left Tsunade's office, the Hokage could already hear Naruto begin to complain. With a roll of her eyes, she shook her head and watched the door close.

"Man, this sucks," Naruto grumbled. "This is going to be a whole lot of sitting around, isn't it? I don't want to sit around and do nothing for over a month! I'd rather be in the Chuunin Exams myself."

"Well, it'll give you plenty of time to train," Sakura said. "Maybe next time Tsunade will be able to find a team to place you on."

Naruto grumbled under his breath. He didn't want to be placed on a random team if he ever underwent the Chuunin Exams again. He wanted to be on his original team but that would be impossible. Sakura was already a chuunin and Sasuke had left the village.

Jiraiya was lingering outside the Hokage tower, debating if he wanted to go inside and deal with Tsunade. He had heard the rumors about the Chuunin Exams being moved and knew she would be in a foul mood if the rumors were true.

"Taking off?" he asked Kakashi as the team passed by.

"In the morning," Kakashi replied. "Will you come see us off again?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe, there's something I need to talk to Naruto about if you don't get back before I leave again. How long will you be gone?"

"Until the Chuunin Exams are finished."

There was Jiraiya's opening to determine how bad Tsunade's mood would be. "Is it true? Are they being moved to a different village?"

Kakashi nodded. "Someplace called the Village Hidden by the Animals."

Jiraiya stiffened and he glanced at Naruto, whose head had jerked up upon hearing the name. Jiraiya shook his head subtly in Naruto's direction, hoping that he wouldn't say anything.

"You recognize it?" Kakashi asked, picking up on the faint cues. Naruto turned away, leaving Jiraiya to give the explanations.

"The name, yes," Jiraiya said. "It's supposedly located within the Untravelable Forest. Its shinobi don't often leave the village."

"It would be hard to do so if the forest is named the Untravelable Forest," Kakashi commented blandly. "We're to have a guide, supposedly. That should make things a bit easier."

Overhearing his words, Sakura began to comment about how lazy Kakashi could be at times. Naruto joined in after a second, trying to pretend that everything was back to normal.

Jiraiya wondered what Naruto would do if he recognized the guide. It seemed that he would have to talk to the boy as soon as possible.

"Hey, Naruto!" he called, distracting the boy from his shouts. "I want to take you out for ramen before you leave. Let's go!"

Naruto glanced up at the word ramen but he looked at Jiraiya warily. After two and a half years, he knew that nothing was ever completely free unless things were really serious.

Kakashi sighed. He knew that he hadn't been given all of the information that Jiraiya had but hopefully he could get it out of Naruto on the trip.

"What's up, Pervy-Sage?" Naruto asked as the pair walked away from the rest of Team Kakashi. Jiraiya looked around but couldn't see anyone in obvious hearing distance that would think to listen in on their conversation.

"The Village Hidden by the Animals, huh?" he asked. Naruto's face darkened.

"It's the first time we've heard anything of the village since we've left," he said. "At least this means it wasn't completely destroyed by their civil war."

"What are you going to do if you see…" Jiraiya trailed off, looking for the word. Was teammate really the right word? They had been teammates for a brief time but Konoha didn't know of that time.

"It would only be Akahana," Naruto pointed out. "Yuri fled and Izo is…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"The second one might have returned after the fighting stopped." Jiraiya said quietly. "And what about the fox clan? What if you run into survivors?"

Naruto scuffed the ground with his sandal, thinking.

"I'll deal with it when the times comes," he said. "I'll be happy to see them and to know that they're alive but I know that my place is here in Konoha." He didn't sound completely convinced about the latter half of the sentence.

"You need to think about these things, Naruto," Jiraiya scolded. "And you need to be careful. What do you think will happen if the Akatsuki finds out that you have ties to the village? They won't strike Konoha because of its size and numerous alliances but the Village Hidden by the Animals doesn't have anything of the sort. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack by the Akatsuki."

Naruto frowned. He knew Jiraiya was right but he also knew that there were too many secrets among the clans of the Village Hidden by the Animals that the shinobi would die to keep. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack but Naruto knew that they would rather all die than give up their clan secrets to the shinobi. An attack would be preferable than being invaded by the Akatsuki.

"Be careful," Jiraiya repeated. "Try not to reveal everything you know. I know that's hard for you—"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"But don't try to be overly friendly to those you were close to, especially in the fox clan. And don't use any of their jutsu, especially—"

"That one," Naruto finished. "But Pervy-Sage, how am I supposed to get any better at it if I'm not allowed to use it?"

"Your body has its limits," Jiraiya replied. "You were lucky last time but you might not be again. Your body can't handle what that jutsu entails."

"Others can handle it," Naruto muttered, thinking of one kunoichi in particular. Jiraiya placed both of his hands on Naruto's shoulders and forced the blonde to look up at him.

"You are not those others," he said. "Your body can't handle it so don't even try. Don't use that jutsu."

After a few seconds, Naruto gave a silent nod that was quite reluctant.

"Fine," he agreed. "I won't use that jutsu." Unless it was absolutely necessary.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy!**

Naruto tried not to protest at the early hour when he stumbled his way to the gate the next morning. He wasn't the first one to arrive, but neither was he late. As the blonde approached the gate, he looked around to see who was already waiting. Shikamaru, Sakura, Ebisu, and a grumpy-looking Konohamaru, along with a shinobi that didn't bear the mark of Konoha.

The blonde slowed his pace as he looked over their guide to the Village Hidden by the Animals. He didn't recognize who it was, but he supposed that was only natural. He couldn't have met all of the shinobi in the village during his brief stay. Judging by the mask hanging off the corner of the kunoichi's belt, Naruto could assume that she was from some sort of bird clan.

As Naruto got closer, some features of the guide became more familiar. Blue eyes sharpened as he stopped next to Sakura. The kunoichi's face was healing after being badly burnt but the light-streaked hair and angular features definitely held some familiarity.

"Oh, good, Naruto. You're on time for once," Sakura said. "This is Kotori from the Village Hidden by the Animals. She'll be our guide."

Kotori glanced up at the name. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Naruto but much to his relief, she said nothing about his presence. "Naruto, hm?" she asked before glancing away.

Naruto ground his teeth as he waited. He knew why the kunoichi was familiar. Kotori was from the Eagle clan and had been supposed to teach him about trapping. They had trained together a few times before her team had been put in charge investigating the massacres.

The rest of the shinobi heading toward the Chuunin Exams arrived within the next fifteen minutes—even Kakashi. Both Naruto and Sakura had been surprised to see him arrive on time for once.

"This is everyone?" Kotori asked. Her words held a slight slur due to the healing burns around her mouth. Sakura was examining the healing burns with a small frown, wondering what could have caused them. Normally a shinobi's wounds were treated promptly and much more efficiently than these had been. She would have to ask about them later.

"This is everyone," Shikamaru confirmed. "What's the route that we're to take?"

"To Suna and then across to the forest," Kotori said. "It's a bit longer, taking maybe four and a half or five days, but it's the simplest route. The entrance to the forest is the most open when you come from the direction of Suna."

Four or five days. Hopefully within that timespan Naruto would have an opportunity to talk to Kotori alone. He wanted to know what he should expect going into the village. Judging by the burns on Kotori that had made her almost unrecognizable, he had a feeling that it would be bad.

The journey went unusually smooth for the shinobi of Konoha. All too often they experienced complications on their missions and by the end of the second day, there had been none.

The first night, Kotori had slept away from the rest of the Konoha shinobi. On the second night, Sakura refused to let that happen again.

The pink-haired kunoichi sat beside Kotori, examining her burns more closely. "Those look bad," she stated. "It must have been very painful."

Kotori glanced up at Sakura. The kunoichi from the Eagle clan stared at the pink-haired woman before shrugging. "It's better now," she said. "It was at its worst a few months ago."

"Months?" Sakura asked, shocked. "Didn't you receive any medical attention?"

Her question was met with a nod. "As much as was necessary. There were others that needed to be treated more than me at the time."

"Were you on a battlefront?" Sakura asked.

The other kunoichi gave a snort of derisive laughter. "Something of the sort," she admitted. "Our village recently went through something like a civil war. We're recovering but many of our medics were either killed or fled and haven't come back. Those that survived and remained didn't have enough chakra to treat everyone. They would treat people to the point of survival and make sure one was in a stable condition before moving on to the next. The remaining injuries were left to heal on their own."

"It must have been awful," Sakura remarked. She had lived through her village being attacked but she couldn't imagine a civil war within Konoha. She didn't know if she would be able to fight her fellow shinobi.

"Entire clans were massacred by single shinobi," Kotori stated. "My own clan was halved. We were considered lucky." Sakura looked confused by her comments so Kotori explained with a bitter smile. "Clans are everything in our village. The size and strength of a clan determined their position within the village. Now entire legacies are lost because of a few weeks of fighting."

"What about those shinobi or civilians without a clan?" Sakura asked. "What happened to them?"

Kotori's brown eyes creased in faint amusement. "No one has ever been without a clan. Even now, when clans have been cut down to just a single person, they and their legacies have been accepted into other clans until they can grow in size again." Kotori glanced back down at her legs and she began to stretch so she wouldn't be sore for the next day.

Sakura didn't know how to respond to that. The idea of everyone having a clan seemed foreign to her. In Konoha, only the largest shinobi families were considered to be clans.

Instead of replying, she asked, "Do you want me to heal those a bit more?" When Kotori's eyes snapped up to meet hers again, Sakura explained. "I'm a medic, trained by the Hokage herself. I could probably do something."

Kotori paused mid-stretch. After a few moments of thinking, she answered. "Thank you, but no. It barely hurts anymore and I've accepted the scars that will come with these injuries."

When she was younger, Sakura would have protested and tried to convince the other kunoichi into accepting her help. However, she had learned in her training that even when help was possible, some shinobi preferred to have scars. They were reminders, they had told her.

So Sakura simply smiled and nodded. "Okay," she said before settling down to sleep.

It wasn't until the fourth day that Naruto was able to speak to Kotori. The group of ten had stopped for a few minutes to rest and eat and Kotori had wandered away to look for something of her own to eat. After a few minutes, Naruto went to find her, telling the Konoha shinobi that he was going to look for a place to use the bathroom.

"So, you survived," he said as he approached Kotori.

"It's good to see you, Naruto," she whispered. "And that the legacy of the Fox clan lives on."

"It doesn't live on only through me," Naruto stated. "How's the village."

Kotori gave him a weak smile. "Recovering," she admitted. "Most of the physical repairs are finished but our ranks are much smaller now. I don't think it would be obvious to an outsider what we went through, though."

"Who became Soshikage after the fighting stopped?" Naruto asked. "Which clan?"

"Mako from the Deer clan." At Naruto's surprised look, Kotori gave a shrug. "She's strong and doesn't put up with any bickering or fighting. There's a ban on anyone from the Cat clan or Wolf clan becoming Soshikage for the next few years, even if they win the challenge at the Day of Trials."

"Who survived?" Naruto asked. "I'm sure the fighting was just beginning when I left."

"Who do you want to know about?"

The pair spent the next few minutes going over Naruto's list. Kotori hadn't been aware of Hisano's survival and from the lack of information, Naruto suspected that the older woman must have remained outside the village with Kouzan. Yuri had never come back as well. Izo had been found dead, nearly torn to pieces. Daisuke was also dead, along with Miyu, Shiyo, and Shouta. Tobikuma's legs had been injured beyond repair and he would never be a shinobi again. Atsuo, Rikiya, and Kazuki had survived and were on the mend.

"Daiki of the eel clan?" Naruto asked. He was one of the last shinobi that had participated in the challenge that Naruto didn't know the fate of.

Kotori smirked. "He's fine. A bit grumpy but fine. He'll be participating in the Chuunin Exams, with two kunoichi—one from the deer clan and one from the turtle clan."

Naruto's blue eyes widened. "He was genin-ranked?"

Kotori shrugged. "Up until a few weeks ago, we didn't have your type of ranking system. It was only when Mako took the post of Soshikage that we adapted the system. She went through the remaining shinobi one by one and gave them their ranks. It was rather impressive, to be honest."

"What rank did she give you?" Naruto asked.

"Jounin," Kotori announced proudly. "That's why I was allowed to guide you here without a team."

Naruto smiled at her enthusiasm before hesitating. There was one more person on his list. Well, two technically.

"Whatever happened to Akahana and Hotaru?" he asked. Kotori's eyes darkened.

"Still alive," she said. "Akahana is the one responsible for this." She gestured at the burns on her face. "She got promoted to jounin as well, along with Atsuo, Rikiya, and Kazuki."

"Good for them," Naruto murmured.

"Yes, it's allowed for plenty of solo missions," Kotori said. "But Akahana and Hotaru refuse to work on a team anymore. They've lost their trust in everyone, it seems."

"So what do they do instead?" Naruto inquired.

"She's been put in charge of a genin team," Kotori informed him. "It's been quite amusing, honestly."

"I'm sure it is," Naruto said quietly. He was relieved to hear that Akahana was still alive, more relieved than he should have been. He couldn't wait to see her with her genin team and see how that dynamic worked. The blonde shinobi was sure that her team was probably terrified of Hotaru.

Kotori glanced behind her.

"We should get back," she announced. "Before the others become more suspicious than they already are. I assume that they don't know anything about our village?"

Naruto nodded. "And I hope to keep it that way. I won't give away your village's secrets."

"It's a nice sentiment," Kotori replied. "But that may not be possible."

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